Rachel Castle
Tucked away in a studio in Sydney's inner west is an explosion of colour. Welcome to Rachel Castle's new studio.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson | Photography: Jacqui Turk for Hunter & Folk
The CASTLE studio in Sydney’s inner west, where each and every corner is an explosion of colour, shape and fun. Photo - Jacqui Turk.
CASTLE can be summed up in three easy words: colour, shape, and fun. However, Rachel Castle’s new studio reveals it’s not just the collections that is a horde of art, texture, and her distinctive geometric designs. After moving from a mini studio, finally, the CASTLE designs and Rachel’s art practice have room to breathe and grow in the expansive space. There is a spot for everything in the Aladdin's Cave of 1980's pop. Rainbows flow into flowers, with Rachel's distinct font type reminding you haven't slipped into a gumball machine.
All this space was, at first, a little daunting. "At first I found it overwhelming as I started too many things at once with all the new space," Rachel considers. "Because we essentially run two businesses, one the art side and two the product side, I need to be strict with managing my time."
Rachel Castle and her sweet Dachshund, Sydney, in her inner west studio. Photo - Jacqui Turk.
A colourful corner in the CASTLE studio. Photo - Jacqui Turk.
“I still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.”
Something which doesn't come easily for the artist/ designer. While the designs have a team of people working on the pieces, hopefully having a good giggle at the unconventional homewares, for Rachel working on those big art pieces takes quiet, reflection time.
“If we chuckle, our customers are going to chuckle. ”
Whether in the paintings or the designs, colour is so integral to Rachel. The SS2019 range goes back to those moments of being a teenager in the '80s, with "ginghams and florals and yellows and all that colour." Not surprisingly, the new collection has also become Rachel's favourite. "I remember having a cane carry bag and all us girls tied ribbons in every colour you could imagine to this poor bag, we wanted it to look like Boy George's ribbon hair," Rachel muses, "we had pink gingham bathers and yellow connies and fluro WHAM t-shirts."
“The colour combos can be heaven, or they can be hell… there are only so many colours, so although they bring me joy on a good day, on a bad one they can drive me nuts!” shares Rachel Castle. Photo - Jacqui Turk.
“My love of colour is like someone loving bacon. Or cheezels. Or organic brown rice. I can’t say why it just ‘feels right and tastes yum’.”
“We have a very loyal customer base, and I would say they have definitely grown with us over the years,” says Rachel Castle. Photo - Jacqui Turk.
The CASTLE studio in Sydney’s inner west, where each and every corner is an explosion of colour, shape and fun. Photo - Jacqui Turk.
Indispensable to the CASTLE studio is to be able to talk and chatter about different ideas; the team know they are onto something good when the giggles get going. But it also essential for their practice to understand when something is not working. "If the process is painful and you overthink it," Rachel explains, "then we just ditch it and move on."
And one thing CASTLE is not, is a fad follower — they pave their own way in the design world and refuse to follow trends. Instead, it's about making pieces that will last for several years, maybe even returning for the next generation — an antithesis to fast fashion.
“The buzz of the good colours is still as strong, although these days I don’t wear them, I just paint and sew and print them, but the feelgoods still feel as good. ”
The desire to work creatively really grew after Rachel had children: "as long as they were healthy and alive then work and everything that comes with it was a bonus, which gave me so much creative freedom." And within this, comes an ever-involving state of self-growth and renewal. In the new studio, the artist/ designer reflects on her career, "I don't want to I be making cushions when I'm 60, so I have to start thinking about what happens in the next little while."
“We have a very loyal customer base, and I would say they’ve definitely grown with us over the years,” shares Rachel Castle. Photo - Jacqui Turk.